ほたるのはかのえいがはとてもかなしい(sad)ですね！I liked it a lot, though. I love how みやざきさん succeeds in interspersing joy with utter sorry. The happy moments make the tragic ones even more moving. It's beautiful moviemaking. Of course the soundtrack is amazing as well.
There was some question about whether the movie really ends with Seita looking out over Kobe (according to Wikipedia), or whether the last scene is actually a reprise of the first. Frankly, I would have preferred it if the end were like the beginning – it would have tied in so well – but I also would have started bawling. Perhaps it was for the better that the movie ended on a more hopeful note.
Really, though, if you haven't seen the movie, you should watch it. It's a bit quiet and slow in places, but just relax and go for the ride. It's worth it.
*** MAJOR SPOILERS (Obviously :P) ***
ReplyDeleteI thought that Seita eventually died from malnutrition or something in the station. I think it makes the anti-war message much stronger if so. It would really diminish from the film's overall effect if Studio Ghibli opted for a happy, audience-friendly ending. Although technically I guess the director said it's supposed to be a film about the importance of caring for those who lived during the stark post-war period of Japan and not anti-war sentiments.
So I don't know if it was just me, but I found the lack of extensive dialogue in this movie to actually be a bad thing. The silence was almost overbearing most of the time and didn't really contribute to any of the themes of the movie. Well, I just didn't really like the movie in general. I actually don't like anime movies at all (except maybe 5 cm per second)! Haha anyway sorry for ranting on here. I shall go now.
(Soundtrack was very good though; I agree with you on that!)
Interesting, I can definitely see your point. It is funny that the director said it wasn't supposed to be an anti-war movie, because it generally comes across as one.
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